Explore Past Editions

Four men and one woman sit on a stage with microphones. Behind them, a sign reads “Panel Discussion: I Love Free Software”. — #IloveFS panel discussion by Zalando

Edition 2026: Maintainers matter

In the week of the 14 February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2026: Maintainers matter" ❤️. During our 2026 celebrations we highlighted the work done by Free Software maintainers while also reaching out to everybody contributing to Free Software.

We marked this special day with 22 events in 12 different European countries. What is more, hundreds of people and many organisations joined us in the Fediverse - with a special "Thank you!" note for Free Software projects, maintainers and contributors. To learn more about the 2026 celebration, you can read the full report.

Thank you postcards to Free Software projects — Thank you messages by participants form the "I Love Free Software Day" in Eindhoven, Netherlands (CC-BY-SA Nico Rikken)

Edition 2025: Hidden Projects

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2025: Hidden Projects" ❤️. Together with our local groups we wanted to raise awareness of all the hidden Free Software projects that power our daily infrastructure.

In 2025 we marked this special day with 19 events in 11 different European countries. What is more, hundreds of people and many organisations joined us in the Fediverse - with a special "Thank you!" note for Free Software projects and contributors. To learn more about the 2025 celebration, you can read the full report.

Collage of four photos: a postcard with a blue LED, a group celebrating in Zurich, staff playing SuperTuxKart, and a “Thank you” sharepic. — Clockwise from top left: Ada & Zangemann postcard (CC-BY Marta); “I Love Free Software Day” celebration by the FSFE local group Zurich (CC-BY-SA 4.0 FSFE local group Zurich); FSFE staff playing SuperTuxKart (CC-BY Matthias Kirschner); sharepic of Ana with a “Thank you” message (CC-BY 4.0 Lisa Schmidt)

Edition 2024: Forging the future with Free Software

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2024: Forging the future with Free Software" ❤️. We focused on younger generations and how to introduce them to the Free Software community. As a result, several of our local groups celebrated this day with a meeting aimed at younger people. The rest just focused on the main "I Love Free Software Day" idea: to acknowledge the amazing Free Software community by thanking Free Software projects and sharing their love for Free Software.

While several FSFE local groups - in Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, England, Germany, and Switzerland - got together and celebrated their love for software freedom in person, we were happy to see how other members of the Free Software community joined our call and organised meetings, like the one in Portugal. To learn more about the 2024 celebration, you can read the full report.

Collage with the text “Thank you for your contribution to software freedom!”, heart-shaped badges with colourful LEDs, and five people holding small hearts. — In 2024, the FSFE gave organisations and long-term volunteers an acrylic heart, an LED strip and a microcontroller to tinker with and show off on 14 Februar

Edition 2023: Meet & Connect

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2023: Meet & Connect" ❤️. The FSFE organised several meetups and events all across Europe. The FSFE local groups in Spain, England, Portugal, Greece, Germany, and Switzerland took up the call of the FSFE to get together and celebrate their love for software freedom in person. Even Free Software contributors from outside the FSFE joined the call and organised meetings, like the ones in Austria and Barcelona. To learn more about the 2023 celebration, you can read the full report.

A DJ with a laptop and headphones, and a neon sign behind them that reads “#ILOVEFS”. — DJ Tasmo at the “I Love Free Software” party in the C-Base, Berlin

Edition 2022: Free Software Games

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2022: Free Software games" ❤️. We organised an event at the FSFE with four speakers, who took us into the world of Free Software games, and we also played the Free Software game Veloren. To learn more about the 2022 celebration, you can read the full report.

Graphic of the 2022 edition about Free Software Games

Edition 2021

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2021" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. Without offline events due to the pandemic, we tried two new things: share pictures to create your own personalised message, and a special Software Freedom Podcast episode about the history of the day. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

A collage of 11 people holding up a sign that reads #ILoveFS. — Developers from Italy celebrating online "I Love Free Software Day"

Edition 2019

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2019" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. Participation grew again, with 667 posts on Twitter and the Fediverse, plus meet-ups and events in places like Barcelona and Berlin, where Zalando hosted an #ilovefs panel. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

Three men and a woman with balloons and stickers from ‘I Love Free Software Day’. — People from Wikimedia spreading love for Free Software in Berlin

Edition 2018

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2018" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. After the first declarations of love at FOSDEM, hundreds of tweets, toots and posts followed, and for the first time we analysed them with a scraper written by our interns. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

A group of people holding a red card with a heart. — Developers from Italy celebrating "I Love Free Software Day"

Edition 2017

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2017" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. FSFE volunteers and staff delivered a letter and a rose to each of the 631 members of the German Parliament, and in Berlin we projected love messages onto public buildings at night. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

Several letters on a table with pink roses lying on top of them. — Roses and letters ready to be delivered to the German Paliament

Edition 2016

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2016" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. The love started at FOSDEM and spread across blogs and social networks, from a cake baked by Wikimedia to a love video from Julia Reda for the VLC player. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

A woman dressed in red holding “I Love Free Software” cards on a busy street, with a tram in the background. — FSFE's volunteer Nermin distributing Free Software love in Turkey

Edition 2015

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2015" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. Many of you focused on tools that protect our privacy, like GnuPG and Tor, and even became each other's "cryptovalentines". There were also love poems, comics and an #ilovefs Android library. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

A man posing with a red “#ILOVEFS” balloon and a speech bubble sign that reads “GnuPG”. — Maurice Verheesen expressing his love for GnuPG

Edition 2014

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2014" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects and were overwhelmed by the resonance in blogs, social networks, and mailing lists. Delicious looking cakes with ilovefs flags! To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

Edition 2013

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2013" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. You answered with heartfelt blog entries, dents and tweets, and the campaign was covered by media such as Heise Online and Netzpolitik.org. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.

Edition 2012

In the week of the 14th of February we celebrated the "I Love Free Software Day 2012" ❤️. With our yearly #ilovefs, we asked you to thank your favourite developers and projects. For the first time, the celebration was not only an online campaign: we also organised an #ilovefs event in the Unperfekthaus in Essen, with talks about Free Software and a concert in the evening. To have a full overview of what happened on this day, you can read the full report.